Drying apparatus



Feb. 28, 1939.

C. w. GORDON DRYING APPARATUS LT 1 1 MINIMUM/.11V

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Il lll@ @7T o, f i Mllllllfwzfn l IHM!! www' m1" NNNNNN O R Y (liar/es l?? afdolz Patented Feb. 28, 1939 UNITED STATES DRYING APPARATUS Charles W. Gordon, Munster, Ind., assigner to Combustion Engineering'` Company, Inc., New

v York, N. Y.

Application August 12,

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to apparatus for pulverizing and drying very wet materials. It

has for its purpose `the provisionv of improved apparatus of this sort. The character of the 5 improvement will be readily understood from a reading of the following specification.

In this specication reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is an elevation of the apparatus embodying my improvement; Fig. 2 is a central vertical section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section generally along line 3-3 of Fig. 2, parts however being on lines 3a-3a, 3b-3b and 3c-3c of said figure; and Fig. 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

'I'he apparatus comprises in general a casing in which there is mounted a beater or Idisintegrator and to which the wet material is fed `together with a stream of hot gases. 'Ihe inlet to the casing for these hot gases and wet material is located centrally at one side. The dried material and the gases are carried of! through a duct extending tangentially from the casing.

'Ihe casing comprises two lateral circular plates la and Ib and a circumferential plate 3 securing the other two plates together. lInthe particular form illustrated this circumferential plate is U- shaped in cross section although this is not necessary. The inlet 5 to the casing is coaxial with it and opens from the foot of a drying tower 1. 'I'his drying tower receives hot air or other hot gases from a duct 9. The material to be treated in the apparatus is brought to the drying tower l through the channel Il by means such as screw 35 I3, this channel I I being located above the duct9 for the hot gases so that the wet material drops through the hot gases entering from 9. The outlet for the dried material and gases is shown at Ii and is preferably tangentially, arranged with respect to the casing. Preferably the casing is insulated against heat radiation as at I1 and similarly the drying tower is preferably insulated as indicated at I9.

Mounted lin bearings 2l-2I and extending into the casing is a shaft 23, arranged to be rotated at a high speed by some means, such for example as pulley 25. On the'end extending into the'cas-- ing there is mounted on this shaft 23 a. hub 2'! and to this hub there is bolted a circular plate 29 from which there extend across the space ln the casing a plurality of. rods. These rods are arranged in circles concentric with the shaft 23. In the particular 4example shown in the drawings there are three'such sets of rods arranged in three concentric circles. the innermost one being 1937, Serial No. 158,625.

' shown at 3Ia, the middle one at lib and the outermost one at 3io. y The ends of the rods opposite the plate 29 are connected for 'the purpose of stilfening the structure.' 'I'he rods 31a are connected to an annular 5 plate 99a, the rods 3lb are connected to the annular ring 33h and the rods 3io are connected to the annular plate 33e.

Extending into the space between the sets of rods Ila, Sib 'and 3Ic are other sets of rods 10 connected to the plate Ib. 0f these sets the one marked 35a extends between the sets 3io and lib and the one marked 351). extends between the sets 3Ib and 3|c.

"I'his general type oi' mill is not novel. It is 15 illustrated for example in United States Patent 2,033,757, granted on March 10, 1936,v to J. Crites and in United States Patent 2,075,50'6 granted on March 30, 193'7, to J. Crites et ial.

In the forms of these prior patents both sets 20 ofyrods are arranged to rotate. In the form of the present invention disclosed in this application the second sets referred to, i. e. 35a and 35h, are shown as mounted in the stationary plate Ib.

This arrangement is adopted by the present in- 25 ventor as being simpler. His invention, however, has equal application vto cases where this second set of rods rotates as in the prior patents.

In the priorpatents there is mounted in each case in the ductselving as inlet to the beater 30 casing a structure for stirring or moving along material in the duct. In the earlier of the two patents this takes the form of a screw conveyor for forcing material along the duct. In the latter of the two patents the structure is merely a set of scrapers or paddles which lift big particles that might collect aty the bottom of the duct and drops them through the current of hot gases.

Both of these devices in the inlet duct require a relatively slow motion and the patentees therefore of Anecessity provide a separatedrive 'for this part ofJ the apparatus.

Ihave discovered that it is entirelyfeasible to dispense with this separate slow motor drive and 45 to jhave an agitating or beating set of rods mounted on the rotating cage and extending through the casing into the inlet duct. This four rods 31, this number may of course be varied to suit conditions. l

The action'of the apparatus may be briey stated as follows: The material, in the form of separate particles, is carried along by the conveyor screw I3 and discharged into the upper part of the tower 1. Falling through this space within this tower this material meets the hot gases delivered by the duct 9. As this mass of particles reaches the lower part of the drying tower it encounters the rapidly revolving rods 31 which beat up the particles and effectively keep any of them from reaching the bottom and collecting there. The current of hot gases conveys this agitated mass of comminuted particles into the casing `where they move away from the center and encounter the rapidly revolving rods 3Ia, 3|?) and 3|c. These further beat up the particles, the rods 35a and 35h serving to pulverize them farther as these particles are forcibly thrown against them. By the time the gases and particles have managed to pass through the set of rods in these two cages the particles have been reduced to extremely fine form and have been thoroughly dried. The current of gases then conveys them out through the duct I5 to a separator (not shown) where the solids are separated out from the gases and the gases disposed separately.

The current of hot gases is forced through the apparatus by any preferred means, such as a forced draft fan on the inlet side or a suction fan on the outlet side.

It will be obvious that the invention may take form somewhat different from that described in detail in the specification and shown in the drawings, The essential part is that a set of rods be connected to the rotating cage and extend through the outlet of the cage and across the [bottom of the, drying tower.

What I claim is:

1. In apparatus for drying materials of high moisture content, the combination of a generally lcylindrical casing, an inlet comprising a generally cylindrical portion coaxial with the casing, and a vertical portion opening into the cylindrical portion on its upper side, an outlet-at the circumference of the casing, two cages comprising sets of parallel rods arranged in circles coaxial with the casing, the rods in alternate circles constituting one set and the remaining rods constituting the other set, means to rotate one set relatively to the other about their common axis, and a further set of parallel rods also in a circle coaxial with the casing and arranged to rotate with one of the first-named sets, the said further set of rods extending across the casing and said generally cylindrica1 portion of the inlet.

2. In apparatus for drying materials of high moisture content the combination of a generally cylindrical casing, an inlet comprising a generally cylindrical portion coaxial with the casing, and a vertical portion opening into the cylindrical portion on its upper side, an outlet at the circumference of the casing, two cages comprising sets of parallel rods arranged in circles coaxial with the casing, the rods in alternate circles constituting one set and the remaining rods constituting the other set, one set being fixed relatively to the casing, means to rotate the second set about its axis, and a further set of parallel rods also arranged in a circle coaxial with the casing and arranged to rotate with the second set, the said further set of rods extending across the casing and said generally cylindrical portion of the inlet.

3. In apparatus for drying materials, the combination of a casing having a vertical wall, a horizontal cylindrical inlet communicating with the interior of the casingA through an opening in said wall,.a duct opening into the top side of the cylindrical inlet to deliver to said cylindrical inlet material to be dried, a plurality of` rods parallel to the axis of said cylindrical inlet arranged in circles concentric with said axis and mounted to rotate about said axis, the rods in some of said circles extending across the casing and the rods in the innermost circle extending acrossthe casing and to the outer end of the cylindrical inlet, and other rods xed relatively to the casing and arranged in circles concentric with the circles of the rst rods and alternating with them.

` CHARLES W. GORDON. 

